The Urban Water Partnership is a collaborative of several local organizations working together to address water quality issues in the Camden City area. Led by the Center for Aquatic Sciences, the group includes Urban Promise Academy, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority. The partnership has formed a strategic alliance that will begin with awareness, education and training activities and baseline water quality monitoring leading to community driven stewardship of the local Camden waterways and the encouragement of environmentally friendly practices in waste management.

For the second year in a row, Camden City school students have been invited to enter an art contest. A winner from each grade is chosen and wins a class trip to Adventure Aquarium and a tour of the Camden County Municipal Authorities Wastewater Treatment Facility. This contest includes a written piece that encourages students to think about the importance of their local waters. Click here for more information on the contest.

As part of the Partners Protecting Our Water project, a select group of teens and interested Camden residents, called Stream Stewards, are out in the field monitoring local waterways. They travel to different sections of the Delaware and Cooper River and Newton’s Creek in order to test the water for pH, nitrates, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. After recording and discussing their findings, the Stream Stewards head out into the community to share their findings and ways people can help keep the waters healthy. Stream Stewards have presented at local organizations, professional conferences and even shared information to Camden City school children during a summer camp.

Urban Water Partnership staff worked with CCMUA to create a brochure for enclosure in their quarterly bills. The mailer was created to highlight the rich flora and fauna found in local waterways and share ways that residents can protect them. The brochure was mailed to all 160,000 CCMUA customers, of which 145,000 were residential. These customers included the entirety of Camden County, comprising city and upstream residents that can affect the waterway with their actions.